California Dreamin'

The start of all the fun!!





So on Monday we went to the beach. It was a little windy but everyone managed to get sunburned except me. It's taken 2 1/2 years but I've learned my lesson. Remicade+Me+Sun=really bad. Don't get me wrong..I still go sunbathing...but I've learned I need to use lots of sunscreen and tan gradually. The kids went boogy boarding and and saw seals and dolphins.

Look closely...a seal!

On Wednesday we went to Kembly's pool...thanks Kembly! The kids had a great time. They love to make up strange games and having Uncle Michael and Henry there made the games even more fun!

Disneyland!

On the tram into Disneyland!






Cullan & Nelson in their respective 'Letters'

Lauren & Ally- They called it 'Mormon night' at Disneyland(anyone remember when they used to have that?) The first person they saw when they got out of the car was their seminary teacher from highschool! Then we all randomly saw so many people from Utah it was scarey. Ally said " This is the most modest Disneyland I have ever seen!"

I hung with the little guys. I think we went on every possible ride we wanted to. The longest line we waited in was 20 minutes. This was the least crowded I have EVER seen Disneyland I think!

Another day in the sun! On Friday the kids wanted to go back to Disneyland but I was all Goofyed out so Michael so willingly took them. Cullan wanted to stay with me; so Laura, Parker, Cullan and I went shopping, visited Brandi and then laid out in the sun.

I love this picture of Parker. He would have slept outside at night if Laura had let him. He never wanted to be inside.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yep I celebrated my
Birthday in Cali. One year older...not any wiser. Ron sent a card to my parents house since he couldn't be with us. Cute! It is also my nephew Adam's Birthday too! We had a big party together.



Nelson got me my favorite treat! Creme Horns!

Isabella

The trip home on Sunday was LONG!


Cullan got sick and we stopped twice on the side of the road because he thought he was going to lose it. I think he might have just been car sick. I know I was sick of the car!!!

It's always nice to get home safe and sound. Everytime I vow I will not make that drive again...next time I'm flying.

Loving the weather!

We are in the land of orange groves and sunny skies! Yesterday morning when I went running(in Utah) it was 32 degrees and snowing; this morning it was 73! I was boiling!

We had quite a car full as we drove here to Ca yesterday. Lauren brought her friend Aly and Laura & Parker came with us also.

The first thing I love to do when we get off the freeway in Riverside is roll down my window and smell the Orange groves. It's actually a mixture of oranges and the beach. At least in my head it is.

We are spending the week here for Spring Break. We'll let you know all the exciting things we enjoy! Most especially the warm weather!

Grandpa Nielsen

Ron's Grandpa Nielsen passed away 2 weeks ago.

We miss him but we are glad he was finally able to pass from this life and be reunited with his wife. He would have been 95 on April 11th. He had 46 grandchildren, 109 great-grandchildren and 1 great, great-grandson. He had an awesome memory and I can't believe that out of 109 great-grandchildren he could remember my children's names. He encouraged my children to prepare to go on a mission everytime he saw them.

Ron with his Grandpa

Lauren and I with some cousins. I love being with Ron's family. They are so fun. It was a big family reunion at the funeral. The Relief Society that prepared the meal after the funeral said that this was the biggest group, by far, that they had ever had.

The Pallbearers.

What a good looking family. Grandpa Nielsen had good genes!

Nelson & Cullan in front of the hearse.

Nelson

Cruisin'

This is how we started our trip.

Our flight from Salt Lake was delayed almost 3 hours. An omen of things to come.

We got to JFK at 9 the next morning and spent all day trying to get on a flight. There had been cancellations the night before so all those people had to get their flights first. Needless to say we were the bottom of the totem pole and spent the night in the airport. I felt like a homeless person sleeping on the chairs. It was almost hilarious if we hadn't been so worried about getting to Tampa and missing our ship. We got to Tampa at 10am the next morning and went to the hotel(which we never got to sleep at) and they let us shower(after we went for a run). We immediately went to the port and boarded the ship.

This is me calling Michael trying to get info about standby's for our flight.





Our Cruise begins!!

Here we are in line to board the ship.


Here is our room!

The top deck with miniature golf and the track

Me eating! This is pretty much what I did the whole cruise. I'm not kidding!




Formal night!

Dave & Deby, Karyn and Brent


Us with our dinner table buddies. We got so lucky and had awesome people to eat with every night.

Chocolate melting cake!

This is by far my new favorite dessert. I had it every night! I now even have the recipe.

After formal night we went up on deck and just watched the water. The weather was so nice, we couldn't have asked for better!


Me waiting to go snorkeling





Our first day in Port was Grand Caymen. We went snorkeling. It was awesome. So many cool fish and blue water! Our guide picked up a stingray and had us touch it. They were all around us. After we got back in the boat we saw a shark. It went right in front of the boat. Good thing we didn't see it on the way out or I would NOT have snorkeled!

This is us after snorkeling. Ron calls himself whitey every time he sees this picture. Haha!

COZUMEL MEXICO

This is how blue the water was! It's amazing! It looks like a swimming pool!

Guy painted with metallic paint. He looked like a statue.


From the top of the ship into Cozumel

Our boat on the right; Bigger boat on left.......crazy!

Getting on the boat after a long day in Cozumel.
Ron went scuba diving and I went shopping. We are both certified, but I am chicken! I know, I know I should have gone. He said it was awesome.

Before dinner one of the nights.


Our head waiter Dio was from India. He was so fun. On the last night he teased me and told me they were out of Chocolate melting cake. He is in the middle in this picture.









Here are all the fun animals we had in our stateroom when we came back every night. They used my sunglasses the first night for the walrus, so I left them out every night so they could use them for a prop.

My favorite was the swans!

Here we are at our last breakfast. We were going to take a picture of me with an icecream cone but the machine was turned off that morning because everyone was leaving. I think I had 4 or 5 everyday!

Waiting for the shuttle to go get our car. Since we had such good luck getting to Tampa, we weren't going to be stuck waiting in the airport for a flight back to Salt Lake. The flights were all full on Sunday so we couldn't leave until Monday. We booked a hotel for 2 nights and tried getting to see my friend Kathie but it never worked out.

This is shot of us with our hotel in the background. It was right on Tampa Bay.

And right behind us in the water was this little turtle. How cute!

Sunday we went to Church in Tampa and then hung out at the hotel and the beach all day. What a beautiful sunset. What a way to end a vacation!

We walked on the beach at sunset. The weather was beautiful; if not for our kids I wouldn't want to go home.

A special thank you to Laura, Paul & Parker for taking care of our kids; especially since we had to stay a day long

We haven't taken ANY pictures since Nelson's birthday last month. And I know we've been busy I just can't think of what we were doing. I look back over my calendar and there is the usual; piano, snowboarding, parent/teacher conferences, school storytelling contest, basketball, running, soccer, snow, snow and more snow! Oh and Valentines Day was in there too. But I have no pictures of any of it. So my excuse is that I have been getting ready for our trip. Trip you say? Yes, thanks to my brother Michael, who gave us buddy passes, and my sister Laura(and Paul) for watching our kids while we go, Ron and I are going on a cruise! We are really excited and counting down the days. Lauren is mad she can't go and says she hopes the boat sinks. Rude!

We also hope to visit my friend Kathie who lives in Florida.

So following the cruise I hope to have many wonderful pictures to show all of you. And I also hope to be tan!

Nelson's Birthday!

Kelly tells me I need to blog more so I'm doing my best to make her happy.

Nelson turned 10 last week. He's such an easy going kid. He likes most anything so he is easy to buy for. He does have a few favorites though. He got a Dallas Cowboys football and watch.

Doesn't Lauren looked excited to have her brother Austin's arm around her?!!!

Our Sunday snowstorm!

I know you won't believe it but church was cancelled for us last Sunday because of the snow. Yes it was SuperBowl Sunday! The kids had an awesome time making their snowboard ramp bigger.

Everyone was out snowblowing!! What happened to snowshovels?? Seriously, we only got 7 inches!

They finally decided to make the ramp into a cave.

The Dress

Here is Lauren ready for her date to Sweethearts!

This lavendar color looks so good with her hair color.

The fake smile picture

And here she is with her date Steve.

They had dinner at Tucanos and after the dance they went to one of the other dates' house and watched a movie. I think she had a good time.